Three Months of Kekao, Part 3
Kekao is a craft chocolate monthly subscription box service, of which I purchased three months.
Month 3 (July, 2021)
Ranger Japan Sea Salt Chocolate Bar
I'm quite fond of the appearance of this one. It's long and thin, with playful comforting art, and the bar itself is completely smooth. No marks or scoring. Smell: sharp, fruity, a little warm, a little salty. s=Salt right away as it melts on my tongue, but the surface texture is smooth. Surprisingly fruity. Ah, the salt granules appear after it's melted for a while. I'd almost think it contains dried cranberries or cherries, though i don't think it does. Bright and sour. You know, I just don't think I'm a fan of salted chocolate. It overwhelms the other flavors. There are things going on beneath the sour cherries, but my only hope of accessing them is to ignore the salt, I think. When W do ignore the salt... This is playful and almost flamboyant. I'm seeing a couple of pre-teen girls playing dress-up in red and purple boas and high heels that are a little too big for them. On the side table they have cranberry juice in martini glasses with little paper umbrellas.
OmNom Chocolate Superchocoberry Barleynibblynuttylicious
This one has fennec foxes on the packaging. Oh gosh, it's got a bunch of stuff just dumped on top of the chocolate bar. There seem to be cranberries, barley, almond bits. And I think crunched up cacao beans. Well, here we go. I put it on my tongue chocolate-side down. It's a little sharp and sour. The texture is smooth. Oh man, that's just an awful lot of stuff going on when I chew it. The cranberry is the loudest. Toasted barley too. It's almost like trail mix. Kind of grainy. Not the chocolate, the chocolate has the same perfect texture as all the OmNom chocolate I've tried. I really like the cacao nibs on their own. They taste an awful lot like they've been steeped in whiskey, to me. I'm having a really hard time sinking into this; it's overwhelming and confusing and I think i'm instinctively trying to protect myself from it. And... I don't feel like fighting that, so I'm moving on.
Manoa Chocolate Hawaiian Sea Salt 72% Dark Chocolate
Mmm, smells florid and sweet. Hint of salt. Warm, happy. First thing on my tongue is sweet, then salt. I don't know how to integrate salt. When I ignore the salt, there's a fruity florid tropicalness. Hm, I'm actually having a slightly easier time with the salt when I imagine it's the ocean air, or the water itself as I hang out on the beach. Cocktails, Banana Boat sunscreen, ukulele music, lays, beach volleyball, and the spray of the ocean on the wind.
Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate 72% Dark Belize Toledo
Oh, fascinating smell! I thought of olives? Yeah, it reminds me of olive oil. It's also dark and sharp. First things on my tongue are bitter and an almost metallic tang. There's something unusual about the texture. As it melts it's more oily than most chocolate I've tried. This is so sharp without being spicy. And the strangeness of the texture is there while chewing as well. Almost like cold butter. The flavor is really interesting. The sharp metallic semi-sourness is quite loud. I'm seeing an old bearded man smoking a cigar in a cellar lit by the fireplace. What's he doing? He's thinking over a problem. Trying to work out how to beat his rival in a business deal. The man is sharp and decisive, but patient. He may spend several evenings thinking alone with a cigar in this cellar before he makes his move. Ah, and just there at the end, I caught flowers. Something very light, like honeysuckles but more dry. Lilac, maybe, or jasmine.
